b. 1990
Sean Ware lives and works as an artist and educator in Portland, Maine. Originally from Lexington, Kentucky, he graduated from Berea College with a major in Art and a minor in Art History before earning his MFA in Painting from the University of New Hampshire. As an educator, he has taught art in higher education across the country, including Ringling College of Art & Design’s Illustration program and Berea College.
“These are invented streetviews. They combine and rearrange landscapes from Google Maps into distorted new elsewheres. With many in-person experiences being replaced by digital counterparts, I am interested in how we view the world virtually. These are scenes of wanderlust and isolation. They show how the world seen through a screen can seem both endless and shallow.”
Q. If you could offer your younger self any advice at the start of your artistic career, what would it be?”
A. “With so many options and directions that may look appealing, don’t get paralyzed by indecision. Follow through on a line of thought, make a plan, and start it. Don’t waffle, commit. Journal as you work, otherwise you will forget those spontaneous epiphanies. Make little notes on the paths that you didn’t take. You can always review these ideas later to see what themes keep resurfacing. To quote the great landscape painter Birge Harrison,” Be courageous. Always dare to the limit of your knowledge and just a little beyond. You must show conviction yourself if you would convince others.”